


the mighty fall

by loghain



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Asphyxiation, Character Death, Dark, M/M, Male Slash, Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-09
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-08 01:09:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loghain/pseuds/loghain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>when Adachi leaves with a wistful “stay in touch, partner”, Souji realises he has let loose another beast on the earth: himself. <br/>the fool, indeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

his eyelids flutter and Adachi grins, and it’s dark, and Souji thought he’d seen dark in each of their shadows but Adachi is like a terrible amalgamation of all of them, so much an inversion of that sweet kind goofy Adachi that Souji expects his eyes to glimmer yellow

but they don’t. this is really him. and Souji has loosed him on the world, repercussion free.

and Adachi locks the door and kills the lights and kisses his new partner, only they’re kisses more like bites, and then they’re languid and almost sweet until Adachi pulls away and his eyes gleam with intent.

intent turns out to be the key. Souji has never come so hard from anything: not from Yosuke’s sloppy pants on grinding, not from Rise’s warm body, not from Kanji’s aggressive experimental blowjob. Adachi fucks him like he owns him, breathes “partner” in his ear and it gets him going in a way that Yosuke doing the same never could

Adachi’s fingers don’t leave bruises in his hips but they feel good around his throat

when Adachi leaves with a wistful “stay in touch, partner”, Souji realises he has let loose another beast on the earth: himself.

the fool, indeed.

he smiles anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

returning to inaba after a year seemed like a mix of good and terrible ideas.

good: he’d get to see his friends again. whatever else he was, he cared about them. good: he’d get to see Nanako, healthy and recovered from her ordeal, and Dojima too.

terrible: the murders might come up in conversation. Souji thinks of himself as a good liar, but that wouldn’t make it pleasant. terrible: he wasn’t sure if seeing Nanako would inspire any kind of guilt or not. 

terrible: Adachi was sure to be there.

and then he found himself horribly disappointed when, his first night in inaba, Adachi didn’t show up at Dojima’s at all. not on the second night, either.

on the third he started getting pangs, like loneliness or being ignored. he didn’t stay at Dojima’s that night. he went to Yosuke’s, wondering if they could pick up where they left off, and he was grateful to find that no, Yosuke hadn’t matured or changed in the least, only gotten a little taller.

Yosuke still thinks that if he keeps the majority of his clothes on and nothing is inserted anywhere, then anything they do can be brushed off with a hahaha no homo,  _partner_ , (man does he hate it when Yosuke calls him that now), which suits Souji just fine.

he just needed to burn off some frustration.

when Yosuke was asleep he stared at his phone. at Adachi’s number. not one phonecall in a year, and now he was actually back in town the only thing keeping him from thinking that Adachi wasn’t there at all was how Dojima griped about his continued uselessness.

fifth night. back at Dojima’s. (fourth night he stayed at Yosuke’s again.)

he made dinner for the three of them, although Dojima wasn’t home yet. and then he was, and there was something that sounded suspiciously like Dojima calling someone a moron, and Souji hated himself for getting his hopes up at all,

and then he was vindicated as Adachi stepped in behind his uncle. “hey, Souji,” he greeted, with all the appropriate friendly familiarity, but behind Dojima’s back the facade dropped and Adachi gifted Souji with that shadow smile of his, his eyes going all heavy - until Dojima said something that Souji didn’t hear, and the cute goofball was back.

they ate. and they all drank. Nanako left off to bed early, kissing Souji on the face when she did, crowing “big bro” in her way, and Souji swore he saw Adachi smirk behind his beer.

it wasn’t guilt knotting Souji’s stomach then.

he never felt more relief than when Dojima finally started snoring from his seat. Adachi had a cool air about him when he stood up, and Souji’s throat was dry when he followed suit. they made it to the hall, right in front of the door before Adachi rounded on him, and Souji was so distracted that he didn’t even hear what he said, he just heard “partner”, and

Adachi’s hand caught his jaw and he repeated, “we’re partners, right?”

Souji nods. Souji thinks about the last time Adachi called him that. Souji wonders what he has to do to get that to happen again.

this is why Adachi being here is so terrible: not because Souji let a murderer go free. not because he’s an accomplice to those murders. it’s cause being Adachi’s accomplice is all he wants to be.

he clings to the veneer of the boy who wanted to solve the murders. maybe he was never that guy at all, but he certainly isn’t now. it’s his mask. like how Adachi wears a mask.

we’re partners, he wants to say, wants to echo back at Adachi, we should don our masks together and take them off together and

and? what do partners in crime do?

they commit more crime, right?

he kisses Adachi. it’s the only way he can think to express the wealth of things he’s had brewing in his stomach for the past year. 

there’s neither the time nor space for Adachi to fuck him like he did a year ago, but the mutual handjob and Adachi choking him against the wall takes the edge off better than he could’ve dreamed; he comes so hard that he gets dizzy, or maybe that’s because Adachi’s squeezing his throat harder than he should be.

Adachi lets himself out after a brisk clean-up. Souji stares at Adachi’s come on his hand and wipes it hastily on his trousers. he can hear that Dojima’s still snoring from the couch. it’s kind of comforting.

he stumbles to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

ah, yeah, Souji really didn't mean for this to go this far.

she figured it out though. damn 'detective prince'.

he calls Adachi and Adachi calls him an idiot. "what, you couldn't just  _laugh it off_? she has no proof. you  _burnt_  the proof." right. yeah. yeah. 

ah, fuck. "you didn't  _kill her_ , did you?"

actually, he's not sure. Souji crawls across his bedroom floor to Naoto's crumpled body. still warm. he touches her throat, feels her pulse beat beneath his fingertips.

"no," he breathes down the line, phone cradled between shoulder and ear. "what do i do?"

Adachi's breathing is loud and then far away. Souji thinks he can hear muffled curses, and then Adachi's near again, and he says, "well you've got a goddamn tv."

Souji looks at it. then back at her. "she has a persona."

"we'll fuckin deal with her! fuck!"

Souji pulls the phone away from his ear and glances between Adachi's voice and Naoto. the worst thing isn't the fact she figured it out, it isn't how mad and disappointed Adachi sounds,

it's how he's is definitely more upset by making Adachi angry than hurting Naoto. "i'll fix it," Souji says, and he says sorry, says it over and over until Adachi sounds sick of him, until Adachi tells him to shut up, and then he says again, "i'll fix it."

can't put her in the tv. stupid idea. she's got a persona. and then there's Teddie. she'd be fine. he can't blame Adachi for suggesting it. Souji was stupid to call Adachi at work and ask him for help. stupid, stupid, they're supposed to be partners

partners don't need to cry down the phone about every little mistake

partners are  _equals_ , they deal with things themselves,

and they definitely don't call the other half when they're at work and can't do a damn thing about it anyway

Naoto's waking up, stirring, pushing her hair out of her eyes and touching the bloody lump on the side of her skull, and she's just getting a clue about what happens when Souji wraps the shoelaces around her neck

and pulls.

he's sick for hours afterwards.

"i fixed it," he tells Adachi, his face all red, his throat torn up, he can still taste vomit on his tongue and see ligature marks behind his eyes, but Adachi kisses him anyway, fingers on his hips and wrists and stroking his throat

"she'll be a floater before long," he muses, and he looks so proud of Souji whilst he turns him around and pushes him just so against the counter. he asks a myriad of questions, if anyone saw him, if anyone saw her, if he cleaned up...

Souji stares at the wall and wonders how Adachi can be so hard whilst questioning how someone disposed of a body. "can't believe you killed her," Adachi whispers, smiling, and he noses Souji's hair and kisses the nape of his neck

something in Souji's stomach does backflips

and he remembers

masks, secrets, accomplice,  _i wanna keep your secrets_ ,

this is what he  _wanted._


End file.
